Richard was the son of shoemaker, who died in 1794 leaving a wife and
three small children.

Richard received six years free education from the Church of England,
at twelve he left school and became an apprentice to a tinplateman in
Plymouth.

On the 24th May 1813 married Jane Rose Cousins (1781-1843) in
Alverstoke, Hampshire, they had six children, three died under five.

Arrested for sedition, libel and blashermy, spent two years in
Dorchester Prison, whilst in prison he continued to write for his
newspaper 'The Republican'. He left his wife Jane as editor, the
newspaper was popular and the government of the day introduced a tax on
cheap newspapers of 4d.

Jane followed her husband to prison for seditious libel and was
imprisoned for two years, Richard's sister Mary replaced her as
edition, but she joined Jane in prison six months later.

In 1832 Elizabeth Sharples (1804-1852) from Bolton wrote to Richard
whilst he was in prison, she moved to London later that year and
visited him in prison.

Jane moved out of the family home and in April 1833, Elizabeth gave
birth to a son Richard Sharples. After the birth Richard
acknowledged his relationship with Elizabeth calling it a 'moral
marriage'. Elizabeth gave him another two daughters.

In August 1836 he set off on a tour lecturing, returning home in
December. Still capable of drawing large crowds, most radicals
rejected his reigious views and were attracted to the political
agruements of chartism.

His time in prisons took a toll on his health and he died of a
bronchial infection.

He dedicated his body to science, he was buried in London 26th
February, 1843.